Kaette Itadakitai: Come Back, I Beg of You
by Sage of Angst
Summary: Chapter 3 up, FINALLY!--Three years later, it's time to go three years back. And, is Xellos *really* there to help?
1. A Story Recounted

Disclaimer: I asked for a Zelgadis for Christmas; suffice to say, Santa won't be getting a thank-you note this year. I don't own anything beyond this story. 

Kaette Itadakitai; Come Back, I Beg of You

"No."

"Ah, c'mon, Zel! The group won't be the same without you!"

"I said no, Lina. You can go off on your little treasure hunt if you want, but I've got my own matters to attend to."

"Yeah, another quest for the cure, right?" The sorceress plopped into a sitting position in front of the fire, glaring at Zelgadis. "I knew we should've snatched you away from that crazy old hag in the last town sooner."

He continued benignly sipping his coffee from his log in front of the campfire. "You have your obsessions, I have mine," he stated simply. Her glare hardened. "You'll manage without me, I trust."

"Ooh..." she growled. "Why do you do this, Zel?" The question came off more as a plea, and she took a sip from her own mug, swirling its contents around. "You come back and stay with us for a while, a few months maybe, then leave, off on another quest. I don't get it. I don't get _you."_

Zelgadis sighed and stood, discarding the empty tin cup he'd been holding. "There's nothing to get about me, Lina. I merely want to regain a form which is familiar to me, my _true form. If you want me to stay that badly, then help me find my cure. I just want to be able to gaze at my reflection without disgust, and I want others to be able to do the same."_

"I already do that..." she noted softly.

"Then that's one," he stated grimly, and turned towards the tents. "Tell Gourry and Amelia I wish them well, and hope to meet again some time down the road--"

"Now you hold it right there," Lina commanded, getting to her feet. "I've had about enough of this pity party. 'Oh, I'm so ugly, people run in fear at the sight of me.' Don't give yourself too much credit there, Zel, people run if they hear my _name. But you, you're starting to drift a bit to the selfish side. Your disregard for your friends' feelings is really ticking me off! I don't see how you can be so cruel as to pass us off as so shallow that we'd judge you based on your appearance--"_

With his chimeric speed, he was in her face before she finished her sentence, staring down into her eyes. "Me?" he hissed. "Cruel?" His voice rose. "Tell me, do _I drag anyone on __my quests? Do __I plunder and harass people when I don't get my way?" He backed away from her, then turned around and began walking into the darkness. _

"Z-Zelgadis!" she shouted at his retreating figure. "You come back!" All he returned before he disappeared into the night was a nonchalant backwards gesture, brushing her off like an ash from his cloak.

*****

3 Years Later

            Zelgadis Greywers had been wandering the roads of the earth for quite some time now, cure hunting. Chasing lead after lead after lead: each as hope lifting and dream crushing as the last. If time had worn on him physically, it didn't show, for he still walked with some spring to his step, trying to keep a positive outlook and failing miserably. He'd been to temples, priests, sorcerers, wizards, and more wise men than he knew the world could hold.

            He was currently trudging along a well-beaten path, in no particular direction but with the ultimate goal of East. He hadn't been "East" in a few months, may as well try there again, see if any new discoveries had been made. The sun, which was directly overhead, showed the already sufficiently cursed Zelgadis no mercy. Sighting a large stone to the side of the road, he stopped to rest and take a drink from his canteen. He removed his cloak and gently set it to his side.

            He wiped his stony forehead of the sweat accumulated thereon and stared ahead of him over the path, which mounted a hilltop and continued on, he assumed, down into a valley on the other side. He squinted his eyes, spotting a figure marching ahead of him near the hilltop. One he was surprised he hadn't noticed before, for it was eerily familiar.

            Black cape flapping in the light breeze, rose colored tunic, gloves. The hair wasn't the same, but then, people change in three years, don't they?

'Yes they do,' he told himself, and, slinging his canteen around his neck and draping his cloak over one arm, he began sprinting at his full chimeric speed towards the retreating figure, calling her name.

"Lina!...Lina!" The figure halted and whipped around after the first "Lina." Zelgadis screeched to a halt, mouth agape, in front of the person he'd been chasing.

"A-Amelia?!" Yes, an older, more mature-looking, Lina-clothed Ameila. Her first face of confusion at being addressed by the sorceress's name changed to one of happiness and welcome. However, she did not, as she had been wont to do, knock him over in a hug, but rather offered a handshake and a soft, "Zel, it's been a while, ne?"

            Zelgadis hesitantly took her hand in his, then tightened it into a firm grip. "Yes, it has. Three years now, right?" She nodded and released his hand.

"Would you like to walk with me for a ways?" the princess asked. "The sun's too hot to stand around in, and I'm trying to reach the next town before night." He nodded his agreement and the two journeyed onward in silence for a few moments.

"So," he broke into the silence, "how is everyone? I take it you're no longer traveling together as a group?"

Amelia stared at him quizzically. "Well, no, of course not. Who would--" She halted in mid-sentence and mid-stride and he did the same, turning to face her. "Wait...Zel, you don't-- no one told-- oh, no..." Confusion crept over his features.

"Amelia?" He took her shoulders and shook her just a bit. "Amelia? No one told me what?"

"No, of course not," she mumbled to herself, her gaze tilting down toward the ground. "Who would have told him, after he left..." she trailed off, her voice softening until it became difficult for even Zelgadis to decipher the words.

"Amelia!" He raised his voice and shook her harder. "What is it?"

"Oh, Zel, I'm sorry, so sorry," she said, looking into his eyes. "It's just, I thought you knew... didn't want to be the one to have to tell you... Gourry was supposed to... Zel, Lina's been dead for nearly three years now. Murdered in her sleep a few weeks after you left that last time."

Zelgadis was bowled over and literally fell to the ground in a heap, as if all his bones had been simultaneously removed from his body.

Amelia sank to her knees beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder, steadying him. "I'm so sorry, we couldn't even tell you, you of all people..."

"B-but how?!" he stuttered. "How-- Lina?! How can she be...How could anyone..."

"It was a sneak attack Zel, no one saw it coming, not even her. That last bunch of bandits we hit, outside of Sairaag. They took her first, and then- then they came after Gourry and me. Gave me this." She tilted her neck up to reveal a long scar down the side. "Just missed my jugular."

"Lina..." he repeated again, still trapped in the shock of the moment. "Amelia." He looked up at her, eyes quivering on the verge of tears. "Tell me what happened," he commanded. "All of it."

*****

            Lina Inverse gave a large, loud yawn and turned the coals of the weak campfire, sending up a volley of sparks. "Boring..." she muttered sleepily, stifling another yawn. She hated having the dead-of-night watch. Nothing even remotely exciting happened in these hours, and to top it off, she was dead tired. Ten hours straight of hiking will do that to a person, no matter how strong. Staring up at the moon, full and fat above her, she wondered if anyone else was doing the same.

The sorceress abruptly stood in her spot and stretched, releasing the crick in her neck and trying to wake up. With another casual glance at the moon, she decided she'd had enough: it was Gourry's turn to keep watch. She wouldn't be a very effective sentry if she fell asleep on duty, now would she?

Clumsily, she stumbled though the darkness to the tents set up on the other side of the clearing in which the three were encamped. As she made her way across the meadow, something she caught out of the corner of her eye brought her attention over to the tree line between the clearing and the forest; for a moment she thought she had seen a figure reflecting moonlight through the trees. She halted and rubbed her eyes for a better look. There _was someone there, but not one she was familiar with._

However, she must not have realized just how exhausted she really was, because strangely enough, she chose that moment to nod off, her legs involuntarily giving out under her weight, letting her body slip to the ground before she could so much as open her mouth to call out to her companions.

*****

"She never woke up," Amelia stated sadly, and paused to gauge Zelgadis's reaction. She couldn't see his face, as his head was bent over supported by his hands, but she was nearly certain he was crying. Strange, she'd never known him to show emotions like this nearly so openly, but then, it had been three years. "Do—do you want me to stop, Zel?" she asked softly.

"No..." came his quivering reply after a moment. "Keep going..." 

*****

            The black cloaked mercenary silently drew back the flap on the young princess's tent, still sound asleep thanks to their mage's spell. He bent over the girl's form, holding his dagger steady over her neck.

"...Lina?" came a soft mumble from Amelia. "...C'mon, Lina...s'not my watch yet...." Her eyelids fluttered only momentarily, but just long enough to catch the glint of moonlight off the steel of the blade. She widened her eyes in fear, about to call out, when a hand was slapped over her mouth, muffling any cries.

"Be quiet, little girl," the assassin hissed, "Don't make this any harder than it has to be." With that he slashed downward with a grunt. Amelia rolled out of the way of the blade as quickly as possible, barely missing receiving a fatal wound and, instead, earning a long gash down the side of her neck which began bleeding profusely.

Clamping her hand over the cut, she lashed out with one leg, throwing off her covers and connecting with the man's chin. With her attacker out of commission she scrambled to her feet and called for her friends. "Miss Lina! Gourry! Bandits! Wake up!!"

At this cry, two more entered her tent, whom she easily dispatched with a few simple spells, now that she was fully awake and aware of what was happening. She rushed outside and saw Gourry. 

There he was, surrounded by a circle of bandits, nonetheless fighting bravely and with all his strength. Three of them rushed him at once, and one landed a lucky blow to his sword hand, incapacitating him.

Anger filled Amelia, enraging her, body and mind; she wasted no more time in dealing with the bandits, who really didn't have much of a chance against magic anymore as their mage had been one of the first to fall by the sword of light. As quickly as the battle had begun, it was over, and Lina Inverse was dead, found by her friends moments later, struck down with a sword run through her heart.


	2. A Secret Revealed

As Amelia finished recounting the tragedy, a fragile silence settled over the two.

"So…simple as that," Zelgadis stated softly, his head still cradled in his hands. "All it took was a sword and a cheap, third-rate mage with a sleep spell. No ultimate dark lord, no demon, no being from some other dimension. That's…" He looked up, eyes brimming, "…all…"

"Zelgadis? Are you… are you ok?" 

'Of course not…' he wanted to say, but didn't, and instead asked, "What then? What did you and Gourry…"

"Do with her?" He nodded. "We couldn't just leave her there, and yet it didn't seem right either to put her in a coffin and dump her in the ground like some common corpse. I know that's not what she'd have wanted."

He stared at her. "Then...?"

Amelia smiled weakly, trying to keep her own tears back as she remembered actually doing everything she was telling Zelgadis she had done. "Trick I learned from Sylphiel—a preservation spell. I patched up the hole where--" her voice began to crack, and she gave a sniff, "where she was... hit, then put her under the spell—she'll stay just the way she was when she died until the end of time."

_Flashback_

A man with long golden hair gently carried a corpse into a forest clearing, followed by a small dark-haired girl, both with their heads bowed. The man approached a stone table erected in the center of the clearing and gently laid the corpse—a young woman—on top of it. He stepped back as the young girl at his side approached the table and began reciting an incantation.

_End flashback_

"We hid her in a copse of pines a few miles south of Neo-Sairaag. I couldn't bear the thought of anyone disturbing Miss Lina's rest, so I put a concealment spell over her, too. It wasn't anything really fancy," the princess confessed, "it's just, when anyone gets too near, they suddenly have this urge to get away. There's--" she coughed again, "there's even a little tombstone." She wiped her eyes of the tears that threatened to spill over.

"Look at me," she stated softly, and turned her gaze back to the ground, "Three years, and I'm still a wreck...

"As for Gourry—he continued on to Sairaag and met up with Sylphiel. They had a funeral for Lina, but I don't know how many people—if any—showed up. The last I heard, they were engaged. I went back to Seyruun, but... it wasn't the same. I'd changed. Daddy held a big parade to welcome me back, and asked me to stay on with him to help rule and prepare for my eventual ascent to the throne. The Father and Daughter for Justice, he called it. But, after seeing someone like Miss Lina struck down so blindly...I guess I lost most of my faith in Justice." She gave a dry laugh, completely void of any mirth. "Believe it or not, I grew up. I ran away in the middle of the night a week after I had returned home, and I haven't been back since."

Gesturing at her new ensemble, she added, "I...I dress like Lina now, mostly I guess so that some part of her lives on, in my memory at least, and maybe I hope some of her strength and courage will extend to me. I roam around, taking out bandit gangs and helping out whenever I can, gathering treasure wherever the opportunity presents itself, you know, the Lina Inverse thing."

Zelgadis smiled sadly. "You always did kind of worship her."

Amelia nodded. "Ever since I met her." She chuckled. "I thought she was the Champion of Justice. Boy was I wrong."

She turned and looked at the distant horizon, onto which a blood red western sun was now setting. "I'm going to have to run if I want to make it to a town before night—Would you like to come? I've got some stolen money burning a hole in my money pouch." 

Zelgadis smiled more sincerely; she had the Lina Inverse-attitude down to an art. "Thanks but... I want to see her. For myself. It seems the right thing to do." Who was he kidding, what else _could he do? _

He turned to leave, headed north to Sairaag, when he heard Amelia calling back to him. "She missed you, Zel." 

He halted and turned back to her. "You—you shouldn't have left that last time, she wasn't the same. I--" but she stopped herself and looked down. "You better go, it's quite a journey to Sairaag."

*****

His fault.

_"Z-Zelgadis!"___

All his fault.

_"You come back!"_

He should've been there--why had he left?

_"I already do that..."_

For a cure? What good would it be now, except to make it easier for him to look in a mirror. Who cared about mirrors?! She reflected him...

_"I don't get you."_

He didn't care about that anymore; everything he'd held dear—allies, friends, loves—they were all gone now. Everything was changed, Gourry, Amelia, Sylphiel, and who knew (or cared) where Xellos was?

He'd come to accept the chaos that was his life with Lina, and now it was gone. He couldn't even have an AB-normal life!

He hadn't said goodbye...thinking back to the last time he saw her, he remembered the last thing he'd done to acknowledge her presence was to brush her away, like she was some pest constantly bothering him. 

He hadn't even said goodbye.

He hadn't told her he was sorry.

He hadn't told her... well, it didn't matter now, did it? Anything he'd wanted to say before could be thrown to the wind and blown to the ends of the earth, for all it mattered.

Sairaag was a few week's journey away; Zelgadis made it in a matter of days. Was this curse good for nothing but to hasten his journey to her grave?

As he neared the edge of the old city, he slowed his pace and surveyed his surroundings; he and Lina had trodden this same road years ago, searching for Rezo's laboratory... and Zelgadis's cure...

_"I swear, Zel, the things you go through to find that cure, it'll wind up being the death of me!"_

The copse loomed ahead, and he halted in his steps, feeling a powerful force emanating from it—Amelia's concealment spell.

Ignoring the gnawing sensation in his gut, he passed through the treeline into the clearing. Inside, it was a different world, appearing untouched by time. Zelgadis wondered in a distant corner of his mind if the preservation spell existed beyond merely Lina's body. 

Sunlight spilt in shafts through spaces in the copse's roof, letting just enough light in to guide the chimera's way. He weaved through bushes and saplings, leaving them all untouched by his sword; he would sooner cut down himself than one of the things in Lina's sanctuary.

Ahead, he noticed a clearing of the bushes and took in a breath, preparing himself.

Then, he stopped—his feet would move no further, and he felt his fears resurface. Like something out of a legend, there she was, her prone body laying still, on top of a stone table and wrapped in her own cape. Her red hair spilled down the sides of the table as if it was her own blood, and Zelgadis shivered.

She looked just like she did that night three years prior, so little had she changed. She could have been asleep, but his heightened senses detected no rhythmic rising and falling of her chest. There was no life in this body, and he knew there hadn't been any for some time.

She was gone. 

It hit him, she was gone. There was no Lord of Nightmares to send her back, no last minute miracle, no Resurrection spell. She was gone for good. On this plane, he could see her touch her—remember her, but she would never truly be there ever again.

Kneeling on the spot he was rooted to, he felt all the emotion he'd kept bottled up since he'd seen Amelia well up, pressing to be let out. 

But no, not yet. He was an expert at keeping true feelings hidden. After he'd found who had done this, then would be the time. He could wait; he was good at waiting.

He'd lost that chance he'd held so firmly in his grasp—now he would be forever trapped in the limbo of "should have said" 's.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. And the prodigal lover returns..." came a voice from the shadows of the branches above Zelgadis. Like a cat, the trickster priest dropped from the upper level of the trees to the ground as the chimera reached for his sword with lightning reflexes.

"Can't I enjoy a single moment without you disturbing me?" he growled through clenched teeth.

The purple-haired man circled Zelgadis, looking him up and down as if sizing him up. "Now, it didn't look to me like you were enjoying this reunion too much—more like a pity party. 'Oh, if only--'" he mocked. "'If  only I'd told Lina sooner, then maybe she'd still be ali--"

"Stop it!" an enraged Zelgadis shouted. "You can't possibly understand what it's like to love someone Mazoku!"

Xellos stopped circling Zelgadis and leaned in, inches from his face, wearing a look of rage seldom seen on the demon's features. Then, catching himself, the Mazoku leaned back and plastered his secretive smile back onto his lips. "Perhaps..." he conceded, "But my... feelings... for Lina were as close to love as any of my race have come or will ever come. I have personally guarded this shrine for years, neglecting my orders in favor of watching over this gravesite, waiting for you to finally show up." He held out a hand. "Tell me, my dear Zelgadis, what took you so long?"

The storm which had been brewing in the chimera's eyes slacked off, "W-waiting?" He narrowed his eyes and shifted his gaze beyond Xellos to the sorceress, then back. "Why for me?"

Xellos, in a very un-Xellos manner, threw his head back and laughed, ignoring him.

"I asked you a question!"

Xellos calmed down and stared at him. "And I find it highly amusing that you don't know the answer! Your head must truly be rock through and through." Zelgadis growled and balled his hands into fists, confused. "Fine, Zel, I'll break it down for you." The trickster priest plopped down onto the soft ground and held his hands in front of him. He quickly conjured up an image sphere, as Zelgadis followed suit and sat across from him, peering into the image.

"I'll try to make this as un-sappy as possible; I get sick just explaining this. However, as it is a part of L-sama's plan, I fear I must do my duty and educate you." The image sphere became cloudy for a moment, then cleared to show Lina and Zelgadis, facing off in a room at an inn. "You and Lina are _hoveante, commonly called 'soul mates' on this plane. They are two beings, two energies, brought together in countless reincarnations throughout time. Hoveante are constant, unchanging, connected; they are anchors for the threads of existence. L-sama created these 'soul mates' in order that this world might have some stability." _

The image clouded over again, now showing him and Lina battling on a lakeshore. "You think it was coincidence that Lina just happened to rob the Dragonfang gang and just happened the Orihalcon statue they just happened to have, leading you right to her? True," he gestured to the image, in which Zelgadis was now applying a monovolt to Lina, "you two got off to a rough start, but it eventually worked out once you realized that  working for the man who cursed you was _not a good idea." The image sphere darkened, then faded. "You are fated to come together."_

Zelgadis grimaced, then stood, speaking softly. "Oh, we are?" he turned from Xellos and walked over to the table. "Well then," his voice rose, "tell me how we're supposed to 'come together' if she's _dead!"_

The demon stood and faced Zelgadis, smiling. "Yare, yare, Zel, calm yourself. That's because this wasn't supposed to happen."


	3. A Plan Implemented

_Author's Notes:_ Good grief, it's been forever and a day since I updated this story…To all who have been at least semi-interested, I apologize profusely. In fact, I throw myself at your feet, humbly begging and pleading for mercy…PLEASE!! Don't be angry! I've kind of had something of a writer's block concerning this storyline for a while—not to mention got really caught up in my DBZ stories—but I think I'm back. So, read on, and don't forget to review! 

_Chapter Three: A Plan Implemented_

"That's because this wasn't supposed to happen." Xellos leaned onto his staff, continuing. "Someone is meddling around where they shouldn't be. With Lina's demise, this timeline has been utterly disrupted, altered from the course set down for it by the Lord of Nightmares Herself. If time is allowed to flow on thus, eventually," he began to tick off results on the fingers of one hand, "the entire fabric of existence will unravel, this plane will be plunged into darkness, life will end, chaos will reign—something I'd normally enjoy but won't be around to—you get the picture."

Zelgadis heaved a mental sigh. Apparently a lot of bad things were going to start happening, all because Lina was dead! Somehow, it felt _good_ to know that the course of events leading up to this conversation was _wrong_, all wrong! That she _shouldn't_ be dead, that he shouldn't be here mourning her. "Then…what can we do? I assume you're explaining the end of the world to me…for a reason? So that it can be set back right?"

"Perceptive, as always, Zel-kun." He stood back up straight and began to pace. "Now, the Mazoku lords are currently conducting an internal investigation of their ranks, as are the Shinzoku. All of Ciepheed's Knights—particularly one Luna Inverse—are out traveling the globe, searching for anything that might be of help, and _I_ have been sent to find you. A special little mission, assigned by the _highest_ authority." He winked, smiling evilly.

"In other words, you couldn't find any other job, so L-sama stuck you with me?"

The evil smile faded into one of mild annoyance. "I'll have you know I've got _quite _a reputation, and bec—"

"Because you're the only Mazoku I'd put up with for any small amount of time."

"Well put." The chimera rolled his eyes, and Xellos slipped back into "dramatic voice" mode. "She wants you to go back, Zelly boy. She wants _you_ to set it all right again. Less damage to the _hoveante_ that way, She figures."

So…this monster had connections that far up? All the way to the Lord Herself? Perhaps he wasn't that much of a fruitcake after all…apparently he'd done _something_ at some point in time to earn that kind of responsibility…

Shrugging at his own statement, the priest continued, "And who am _I_ to doubt my own creator? If she wants you to go back, well then, back you shall go!" He swiftly raised his staff and closed his eyes, pointing the weapon mere inches from Zelgadis' face, preparing to recite an ancient spell, when a frantic yell interrupted his concentration.

"W-wait! _Xellos_! Wha—what are you _doing_?" Ah, so the chimera had finally snapped out of his trance and was actually paying attention now? "Send me back…where?"

"Why, to three years ago, of course." He pulled back the staff and leaned his upper body forward, knocking on Zelgadis' head a few times. "My, my, not quite as sharp as you let on, are you?"

"I'm supposed…to stop Lina from _dying_?"

Face breaking into a giant smile, Xellos shouted, "Correct! Give rock-boy a cigar!"

Once more…if that fruitcake made _one more_ remark like that….BAM! That staff of his would find a nice new home up his—

"I will send you back to the day of her death—it will be _your_ job to find her and stop her from being killed. Doesn't matter how—just stop it. Once you've done that, I'll contact you. We can then continue our search—"

"Wait, 'we'?" he interrupted. "'Search'?"

"Oh, don't sound so surprised, Zel: you didn't think I'd let you alone so easily, now did you? You'll have plenty of time alone with Lina-chan soon enough!" Again, a wink and an evil smile.

Zelgadis shook his head, exasperated and trying not to blush at the crude remark. "So, I find Lina—then what will happen to the other me that was gone when she died? I'm not gonna…blow up, or anything by going back, am I?"

"Hmm…" Xellos became thoughtful for a moment, rubbing his chin. "Well, he'll be destroyed, of course."

"Wha—he—_d-destroyed_?" He hadn't realized such drastic measures would need to be taken, and his stomach gave a revolting turn.

"Mmhmm!" He nodded vigorously, obviously not feeling as sick about killing off Zelgadis' counterpart as Zelgadis himself. "Well, we can't have him wandering around where he shouldn't be, now can we? Don't worry, Zel—it certainly won't affect _you_. He's not even supposed to exist, anyway, so his demise won't hurt you. We've even already got someone assigned to take care of him."

This didn't comfort the chimera in the least. It didn't matter whether or not Zelgadis was conscious of the death, it was still _him_ that was dying. That alone was enough to leave him quite unsettled, and he shivered.

"Once she has been saved in _that_ timeline, you will both be returned here, where you will be enlisted to aid in the search for the culprit behind all this. This corpse," he extended a single gloved hand to the slab behind him, "will be gone when we return, and time will carry on as before; it will just seem as if Lina has been missing for three years. Alive then, gone, and then, poof! Alive now."

Well, all wrapped up in a nice little package, wasn't it? But those were the ones that usually fell apart easily. Shrugging off the unease, Zelgadis offered up his agreement—what else could he do but follow through with this shoddy plan? "Fine, let's just get on with this."

Xellos bowed low in a mocking manner, then thrust his staff forward again, its red stone once more inches from the shaman's nose. Words of summoning issued forth from the demon's lips as a mist, swirling up around the two in translucent columns of magic. Shortly, a wall of white formed, separating them from everything else, and then…all was dark.

*****

It was a sharp, throbbing pain behind his left eye which prodded Zelgadis awake. While his stone-encrusted hide protected him from most foreign attacks, it could not guard against those launched from inside, and that included headaches. He pushed open his eyes, still small slits, and used all his mind to will the pounding in his head to cease, which—after a few moments—it did. While he waited, lacking the strength and will to heave himself upright, he studied his surroundings with his other heightened senses.

His sight told him he was in an inn of some sort: soft, unslept-in bed, maroon coverlet, sturdy wooden floors, rug at the foot of the bed. There were two windows, one facing west, through which the setting sun was visible, and one north.

His ears and nose told him he was in one of the bedrooms of a tavern. Boisterous laughter and music seeped through the great oak door separating him from the rest of the building, and he could smell various dishes simmering on a stove and baking in an oven. Mingled with these sounds and smells was the ever present scent of alcohol—yep, he was definitely in a tavern.

In the back room of a tavern, late afternoon. That's where he was. The pulsing had finally stopped, and he sat upright now. "…But, where am I?" He cast a quick paranoid glance down—he was still garbed in his usual attire, but…patting himself down, he hissed a curse—no sword. Pulling on his mask, he swiftly descended the stairs and burst out the door, tossing a few coins into the hands of a bewildered tavernmaster, unsure whether or not his room had been paid for.

He scanned each building as he strolled down the town's main road, seeking out one which seemed the best restaurant in town; that would be where he started his search for Lina. "Stu's Beef Stew, no…Vicki's House of Veggies? Hardly Lina's style…Serrigan's Steakhouse—there!" 

After drilling the manager of the establishment for information regarding a red-haired, bottomless pit, loud-mouthed sorceress, he was pleased to discover that the man remembered her well. "Yeah, that kid nearly cleaned me out, and what _she_ didn't eat, one of those other wierdos she was with _did_. Put a couple of my best chefs in traction for doubting she could eat everything they cooked."

That had been a few weeks ago, though, but they _had_ spoken—if the manager recalled correctly—of visiting a new seafood restaurant in the Letarnis district down by the ocean. And then…where had they said they might go? Was it Sairaag….or Seyruun? The manager got those "S" cities mixed up so easily, he laughed.

Zelgadis sighed and exited the establishment, thanking the man, and began trudging towards the outskirts of the city.__

_ "I will send you back to the day of her death—it will be your job to find her and stop her from being killed."_

That was what Xellos had said…this was _when_ she was, but what he needed to know was _where_ she was. He didn't even know where to begin, much less where she was. The sun was almost completely set—she might _already_ be dead. He had the opportunity to save her, but he _couldn't_ unless he knew where she was, and he didn't have time to wander around aimlessly looking for her. _'Thanks a lot, Xellos…'_

His mind drifted back to the conversation he'd held with Amelia those few days ago…wait, what had she said?__

_"That last bunch of bandits we hit, outside of Sairaag."_

Sairaag…

"Raywing!" his voice echoed through the land.

*****

_'There's nothing to do,'_ Lina Inverse mentally whined, leaning back to rest on a large rock behind her, using her arms as a pillow for her flaming red head. _'Nothing. No treasures to hunt, no towns to save from zombies for big rewards, no Dark Lords to defeat, no fruitcakes to rough up when I get a little ticked, no Zels to drag us on some search for a cure…even the bandits are starting to bore me…'_ She sighed and stared up at the moon floating high above their camp.

It was actually pretty beautiful tonight, not too bright, not too white, but more of a soft creamy beige tone…kinda like—

Lina was jerked from her reverie and her reclining position by the sound of a twig snapping in the copse of trees mere yards from her and her friends. Then—the glint of moonlight off of steel.

_'Hmm…maybe I will get to have a little fun tonight after all…'_

She readied her hands for an attack, conjuring up a fireball just in case their visitors proved a rowdy bunch. "Come on out now, I know you're there, hiding," she called into the darkness, but was answered with more silence. Growing a little annoyed—didn't they know who she _was_?—she yelled again, "Don't make me ask twice, whoever you are, or should I just let this fireball do the talking?"

Still, no reply came, and she gave a low growl, her patience wearing thin. Raising her hand to deliver the spell, she was about to cry out, when she felt all the strength leave her body, and crashed to the ground with a _thud_. Try as she might to raise even a single finger, she could not, so drained of energy was she—her breath came slowly, and her eyelids grew heavy.

She scoured her mind—somehow it all seemed strangely familiar…

_'Is this…what a sleep spell feels like…?'_

Needless to say, the fireball dissipated into nothingness, leaving the sorceress completely helpless, and the last thing her eyes saw before they fully slid shut was an older man in a long flowing brown robe, charging at her with a sword held out full before him.

Then, she saw nothing; saw nothing, but still _heard _for some reason. Why she didn't fully black out was beyond her ken at the moment, and she wouldn't discover the reason until after the battle that was to ensue—that her would-be killer had been suddenly thwarted from his plan, releasing Lina from the effects of the sleep spell before she had even fully succumbed to it.

As she lay there, helpless, motionless, her ears were assaulted by the harsh grating sound of metal on stone, and she found herself finally able to cry out, still struggling to open her eyes. Then, the sickening _thunk _of a body hitting the ground…but whose? She waited for the slicing of a blade down on her exposed neck, but it didn't come.

Summoning what little strength had returned to her, she slowly forced her ruby eyes open, and her gaze fell upon the horrified stare of the bandit mage who'd made the attempt on her life. Then, she shifted her eyes to view his body—five feet away.

Feeling a rising tide of vomit threatening to surface, she quickly pulled herself up into a sitting position and clapped a gloved hand over her mouth.

Something pulled her attention away from the decapitated body, though…another figure, half of his body lit by the dwindling fire, the other half by the moon; but he was turned away from her, cleansing his hands of the gore covering them by running water from her canteen over them. Hearing her stir, he turned to face her fully.

Eyes wide, she breathed out, "_Ze—Zelgadis_?"


End file.
